Control And Control In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

1654 Words7 Pages
(AGG) When knowledge and memory is controlled for any individual person, intelligence shifts from the individual to the controller of the knowledge and memory. (BS-1) In Montag’s society in the book Fahrenheit 451 the knowledge and memory is being controlled by those in power, the government. (BS-2) By controlling the knowledge and memory like this, the government gains a lot of power and lose the need to address issues within the society that have to be dealt with. (BS-3) Ultimately, this level of control by the government ends up damaging the people in Montag’s society. (TS) The author, Ray Bradbury, conveys a very important message about knowledge and memory and shows the damage that is done when it is controlled. (MIP 1) The government is controlling the knowledge and memory in the society. (SIP A) The society is designed so that the government is believed to be like a hero by the citizens. (STEWE 1) During Montag’s chase, the government has so much control that they are able to have them physically move at their command. The people in the society are all glued to their parlor screens, watching Montag being chased. The chase is more like a parlor show for entertainment than an actual crime. The narrator of the parlor show commanded of the citizens, “‘At the count of ten now! One! Two!’ He felt the city rise. ’Three!’ He felt the city turn to its thousands of doors” (Bradbury 132). On the count of ten, the citizens are completely controlled by the government in order to